This is not just a cyber problem but it is a society problem. To combat it we need to address it at home, in school and throughout society. It makes me sick at heart to have such incidents occur like the one with Kathy Sierra. My heart goes out to her and I think her blogging about it shows courage. She needs our support. Then some of the conversations that have followed about the incident are alarming in different ways. All the analyzing, second guessing and side issues about the situation take us away for the issue at heart. To me that issue is that some coward has used the anonymity of the Internet to threaten, strike fear, and display totally inappropriate and unacceptable behavior. This type of harrassment is what we have to combat.
This points out how more than ever we need to be given the responsibility for teaching appropriate and responsible behavior on the Internet. We can’t do that if we shut down sites and hide our heads in the sand. We need to start early, have many conversations about safe, responsible, and acceptable behavior online as well as offline. We need to have sites available so that we can encourage and promote good relations, foster understandings, and truly work on nurturing global communities. We also need a society that shuns activities that encourages mean spiritness and laughing at the expense of others. We need a whole lot more press about the good things that are happening instead of an incessant listing of trivia about…well, you get the picture, I know.
Thanks to Scott McLeod for the cyberbully graphics.
Also check out Will’s post today where he says, “I won’t speak for other parents, so here’s what I’ve set as my own path for helping my own kids deal with the inevitabilities of this extremely complex and wide-ranging social issue.” We all should follow that path.
I totally agree that bullying is a totally unacceptable type of behaviour – and should be tackled more in the home and in schools.
How can one treat someone else in such a horrendous way and not even feel some kind of guilt! What happened to the good old rule: treat others the way you would like to be treated?
Let’s all try to “stamp out bullying” and make this a better place to live in! Action points that we can start think about – especially within schools:
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/stamping-out-bullying-576
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I am new to the topic of cyberbulling to the extent that Kathy Sierra has experienced! This certainly makes me rethink about blogging.
I did find an interesting site: http://cyberbully.org/that had some good information. Cyber bullying is everyone’s business and the best response is a pro-active or preventative one. As parents we need to get involved and be aware. If a child is is being bullied online, take action. Kids need to develop their own moral code so they will choose to behave ethically online.
How scary is this!!!
I applaud you for writing more about this issue. I was most inspired by your comment that we can hide our heads in the sand or we can step up and teach this generation about internet safety. I myself will try to do as much as I can to teach my Grade 3 students about internet safety – oh yes and we blog too.
There was just an incident on long island where a student committed suicide because other kids in a chatroom told her too. There are more blogging sites now then ever. This site that the girl logged onto was a site where you posted your own picture and other people evaluated you anonymously. Apparently, when this young girl posted her picture others on the site told her she was ugly, not worth living, and she should just kill her self. The following week she did just that. Our students of today are exposed to so much more than we were as kids. We need to find ways to protect them from the internet. Starting from elementary school I beleive we should have an internet safety lessons. Schools and parents need to teach their kids about using the internent safely and protect them from sites such as the one I previously mentioned. Without the right protections, the internet can be a very scary thing.
I agree with you that Cyber bullying is not just a cyber problem but it is a society problem.